Spartan Field Hockey Falls to No. 20 Old Dominion

Abby Barker scores her second goal of the season

EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Michigan State was defeated by No. 20 Old Dominion on Sunday by a score of 3-1. The Spartans split their weekend set of games after defeating Northeastern on Friday and are now 3-6 on the year. Abby Barker scored the only goal in the game for MSU, her second of the year.

MSU fell behind early in the contest and went into the half trailing 2-0. Michigan State cut the deficit to one two minutes into the second half on a goal from Abby Barker, who was assisted by Heather Howie on the play. This weekend was Barker's first games back after being sidelined due to injury since September 7th.

ODU tacked on an insurance goal in the 45th minute, increasing their lead to two and creating enough separation to avoid a late MSU comeback.

"For us we came into the game ready, ODU just got pressure in the first 20 minutes that resulted in some goals and put us on our heels," said head coach Helen Knull. "Going into the half we knew the adjustments we had to make tactically and came out in the second half to make it a 2-1. Then, Old Dominion scored on another corner and made the hole even bigger for us. We have to look forward to starting Big Ten play next weekend against Ohio State and that will start the next chapter of our season."

Old Dominion fired 13 shots in the game, and goalkeeper Molly Cassidy turned away six, increasing her Big Ten-leading total to 35 on the season.

Michigan State returns home on Saturday, September 28th to kick off Big Ten action against Ohio State. The game will take place at 1 p.m. at Ralph Young Field and will be featured on the Big Ten Digital Network.